Pursue hearts for Jesus

Pursue hearts for Jesus

Share Christ among travelers

In our Christian ministry we focus on two main groups:

Evangelism among the guests in our hostels

Missionary work to cleaners

Evangelism among guests

The purpose of our Christian ministry is to share Christ and His love with the guests who stay at our hostel. We believe God brings each guest to the hostel for a purpose. Both believers and non-believers stay in our hostels. Some guests are very active in their spiritual journey and join our hostel activities where we openly share Christ. However, we also have a lot of guests that are more passive.

Christian ministry through hospitality

We serve all of our guests with joy, praying that God will continue to work in their lives. Excellent customer service is what we aim for. We spend time conversing with them about regular things, attempting to make “bridges” to the Gospel. They like to exchange ideas, to philosophize about God, Jesus and the Bible. But they don’t like to be pushed or preached at. Each guest receives a booklet with a biblical message upon arriving and with further interest they can also get a free copy of the New Testament. We want them to experience the Shelter as a safe place, and it is our deepest desire that they find God, the ultimate shelter for life.

How guests perceive our activities

One day, before arriving, one female guest was afraid that our hostel might have a “pushy” Christian environment. But then she joined our Open-Mic Night. She told one of the volunteers that she was impressed by the atmosphere. She opened up about her thought on Heaven and Hell. The staff members asked: "Where do you think you will go and why?" She didn’t know but promised to think about it. Together with her friends the next day, she joined the city walk. They have continued to spend more time with our staff. It’s great to have guests participating in our community!

Evangelism activities

We share Christ through engaging in personal conversations and our evangelism activities, such as:

Hostel Night - On Friday nights, we offer a free dinner for all of our guests. We spend time with them and share our testimonies.

Film Discussion - Every two weeks we invite guests to watch a movie with us. After the movie staff members facilitate a discussion that brings the themes of the movie to a personal level and makes a bridge to the Gospel.

Open Mic Night - On Open Mic Night we encourage every guest to contribute a song, skit, dance, poem or whatever they like. There is a great mix of Christian and Non-Christian music.

Other outreaches - Volunteers sometimes come up with new ideas. There are many opportunities to be creative, engage guests, and share Christ in our ministry!

In everything we do, we see that relationship with guests are very important. If they get a warm welcome at the reception or had a nice talk with a volunteer, they’ll want to join our activities too. Guests like to join our activities when they feel loved, accepted and safe.

One of our evangelism activities is hostel night: free dinner for the guests, where we can interact and connect with them.

Missionary work to non-Christian cleaning volunteers

Besides sharing Christ through words and deeds to our guests, we also have a cleaning ministry. People (non-Christians) who are looking for a low-budget accommodation in Amsterdam, can work as a cleaner in the hostel for 14 – 28 days, in exchange for free room and board. We offer 3 to 6 cleaning positions at each hostel.